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Steve Stein
Contributing Writer
I ra Schlussel will never forget his
fifth trip to Israel.
He went with his wife and
children for the first time and won a
gold medal at the Maccabiah Games,
a quadrennial gathering of Jewish ath-
letes from around the world that's also
known as the Jewish Olympics.
There's more. The 46-year-old
Huntington Woods resident won the
gold medal in hockey in Metulla, site
of Israel's only ice rink.
He scored the tying and winning
goals for Team USA in its 7-4 upset
of Team Canada, which was coached
by former Detroit Red Wings coach
Jacques Demers, in the gold-medal
game.
When Schlussel scored to put Team
USA up 5-4 in the third period, it was
the first time Team Canada had been
behind the entire tournament.
Team Canada led Team USA by two
goals three times in the championship
game, including 4-2 in the second
period.
But the Canadians couldn't close the
deal.
Down 4-3 heading into the third
period, Team USA scored four unan-
swered goals — the first two by
Schlussel — to win the gold medal.
"When the game ended, we pounced
on our goalie, and sticks, helmets and
gloves littered the ice Schlussel said.
The celebration didn't end at the
rink.
"We stayed up until 3 o'clock in the
morning hanging out, eating dinner
outside Kfar Giladi (a kibbutz) and
talking about our journey to the gold
medal:' he said. "It was quite satisfy-
ing."
Schlussel had six goals and seven
assists in five games playing center on
Team USits top line in the four-team
masters (ages 39-and-older) division.
The assistant captain had two goals
and two assists in the championship
game.
While the players in the masters
division are no spring chickens, many
have college or junior hockey on their
resume.
Not Schlussel, an observant Jew
who is in shul and not an ice rink
on Shabbat, when many college and
junior games are played.
That fact was part of Schlussel's
empassioned, emotion-filled speech to
his teammates before the gold-medal
game.
"I told them everybody likes to win,
but not everybody hates to lose he
said. "Some are fine with losing, but
I'm not. I hate it. I don't care if I'm
playing ping pong, HORSE, tiddly-
winks, whatever.
"I also told them I know a lot of
them played higher levels of hockey
than I had, but this was the biggest
game of my life and with my distain
for losing, I would do all I could to
make sure that didn't happen."
Team USA lost 6-5 to Team Canada
and 11-6 to Team Russia in its first
two round-robin games before defeat-
ing Team Israel 5-2.
Revenge was sweet in the medal
round. Team USA beat Team Russia
3-2 in the semifinals despite having
three goals called off, then it shocked
Team Canada.
Team Russia beat Team Israel 3-2 in
overtime in the bronze-medal game.
Hockey hadn't been played at the
Maccabiah Games since it was an exhi-
bition sport in 1997.
Thanks to the sponsorship of six
NHL owners, the 16-year drought
ended in the summer of 2013.
Schlussel hoped to combine playing
hockey for Team USA in 1997 with his
honeymoon trip to Israel with his wife,
Cara, but he didn't make the open divi-
sion (ages 18-38) squad.
He had better fortune this time.
Cara was there in Israel with him to
soak in the gold-medal experience
along with their children Claire, 15,
Gabe, 13, and Sam, 10.
Ira Schlussel graduated from
Southfield-Lathrup High School in
1985, the University of Michigan in
1989 and Georgetown University Law
Center in Washington, D.C., in 1992.
He's senior vice president and gen-
eral counsel for Pleasant Ridge-based
ePrize, which designs online promo-
tions for companies in 44 countries.
❑
Please send sports news to
sports@thejewishnews.com.
October 10 • 2013
Round 17.-1
I
Notes Farago:
II First Read
I Notes RenMedia: